


The Vast Expanse of Nothing

by TrippinOverMyFandoms



Category: Donnie Darko (2001), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, One Shot, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic character, Short Story, Survival, The Upside Down, cant believe no one has done this yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 23:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21026768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrippinOverMyFandoms/pseuds/TrippinOverMyFandoms
Summary: For seventeen years he ran. He kept going, never stopping. Stopping meant death and he wanted to live. Moving meant survival. He only rested when his body physically couldn't go on any longer.





	The Vast Expanse of Nothing

His eyes snap open and he's not where he last remembers being. It's unexpected because if he tries hard enough in his weary state he can remember being in his bed just about to fall asleep. The next thing that follows is a loud noise and excruciating pain everywhere. 

But it's cold and dark here.   
Wherever here is. 

As he tries to breathe through the heavy weight on his chest he ponders the expanse. If it weren't for his difficulty getting air in and all the pain he still felt he would have guessed this was death. He wasn't religious but maybe it was hell. Even if it didn't match the description he had overheard one of the TV preachers that his mother watched had described. 

When he sits up he regrets it. The action causes his head to throb and suddenly it feels too much like waking up after sleepwalking. This wasn't right. He wasn't dead even though he should be. 

He really wants to lay back down and hope the pain goes away, that he'll just wake up from whatever nightmare or schizophrenic episode that this is. Because with his history that's what this has to be. There's no other explanation. Just like time travel- it was all in his head. Right?

Suddenly he's too aware of how all the hairs on his body are standing on end. It's not clear why until a harsh screech pierces his ears and something primal in him tells him to run. Everything hurts and his survival is running on autopilot. 

He has to talk himself into standing up. 

Once his head stops spinning he's able to identify his surroundings. It's odd because it looks exactly like his room except for the huge hole in the floor and how dark and cold everything is. It sends a shiver down his spine and he's suddenly too aware of how exposed he is in just his tshirt and pajama pants. He crosses his arms and curls his toes looking for something that would keep him warm. Maybe some shoes too. 

The screech is heard again and this time it sounds closer. He needed to hurry. He settled for the torn blanket on his bent up bed and battered sneakers from the fallen in closet. 

Carefully maneuvering the hole in the floor, shuffling his feet and watching eat half step, he makes it to his bedroom window. It lead out to the lower roof and had been frequently used by his older sister whenever she snuck out of the house. By the fractures he had gotten in the past he was sure he had gone out it a few times during his sleepwalking episodes. 

He's thankful for the shoes when the glass crunches beneath him. The window is completely without glass except for the top pane. He uses the edges of the blanket to open it without cutting himself, knowing an injury in wherever he was without medical supplies could potentially be fatal. Damn, his health teacher would be proud he had actually listened. 

Once it's open he slides out and onto the roof. The sight that greets him makes him want to crawl back inside and find somewhere to hide instead. The sky is a mix of black and fiery reds and oranges with bright lighting and roaring thunder. The darkness spread for miles and it wasn't just his home that had fallen victim to whatever this was. 

It had to be an episode. It just had to be. 

The screech sounds like it's on top of him when he hears it again and he immediately covers his ears, shrinking in on himself while trying not to slip down the roof. 

Any small hope of staying inside and waiting out the episode is gone once he sees it. Down below is a creature more terrifying than the first time he had seen Frank. Hell, it was infinitely more scary. It was faceless and seemed to ooze an aura of pure terror. It stood tall on two legs and the claws looked like gnarled knives. 

It was dumb luck it hadn't seen him yet. 

He holds his breath and waits till the creature rounds the side of the house, counting to fifteen just for extra measure. When all seems quiet he allows gravity to do its thing and he slides down off the roof and onto the ground. 

Then he runs. 

(-)

He never stopped running.

For seventeen years he ran. He kept going, never stopping. Stopping meant death and he wanted to live. Moving meant survival. He only rested when his body physically couldn't go on any longer. 

He had just been a stupid kid back then. Having only been sixteen when he was thrust into the Expanse, as he had deemed it. Surviving was hard for someone who had barely made it into high school. Especially in a dark world with nothing to eat and creatures that hunted you. 

He forced himself to do anything that he thought for a second he didn't want to do. It had started with talking himself into testing if the vines that grew everywhere were edible. Luckily for his sake they were. It wasn't the best thing ever but it was survival. A hard truth for a middle class teen to have to come to terms with. But he was always troubled from the start so it wasn't that hard. 

Over time he had started to talk to himself. He was utterly alone in the Expanse and ironically enough his schizophrenia didn't show up to keep him company. To keep some semblance of sanity he begun recalling aspects of his life from as far back as he could remember until the present. The first run through didn't take long so he tried again but with more detail. And he did it again. And again.

Unfortunately it made him miss his parents and his sisters and his few friends and the life he had. What if this whole world were some sort of post apocalyptic thing only he had survived? Frank had said the world was going to end so maybe this was it. He never had a chance to go back to his house and check for bodies but then again he never saw any bodies at all. That was the most troubling part.

Then one evening he started thinking. So what if time travel were a thing and Sparrow hadn't been so crazy after all and it actually wasn't an episode of his. 

There were so many possibilities once he followed that manner of thinking. Everything from accidentally launching himself far into the future (which was disproven once he made it out of Middlesex and realized everything was the same as it had been) to he went back in time and him being at home when the engine crashed caused an alternate universe. 

They got crazier and crazier each time he thought about it.

But without it he wouldn't have discovered his ability.

At about age twenty-two during one of his periods of rest he let his theories consume him. He closes his eyes and sat still, hoping that maybe he could force himself back in time before any of this happened. He remained like that even when the screeching of the creatures sounded in the distance and even as they got closer. He focused on that night in as much detail as he could, he hoped, he prayed to whatever God, he forced himself and he thought it was all over when the screeching was all he could hear until it wasn't. 

When he opened his eyes his makeshift base was in ruins. It was like a meteor had struck except he was in the center of it. About five feet away laid one of the creatures so very, very still. He forced himself to stand up because if one was around then there would sure to be some to follow.

He stumbled, limbs shaking and he felt light headed. It looked like a meteor had struck but he was at the center. Whatever had happened had killed the creature.

(-)

His science teacher would have told him it was telekinesis. A nearly impossible feat he came to figure out on his own. How? He didn't know. He let himself believe that maybe it had been all the vines and questionable vegetation he had been living off of for the past several years.

Immediately he couldn't control it. Which sucked because it was key in his fight against the creatures. But he would eventually figure it out within the year. He did have a lot of alone time after all. Left to ponder everything in his mind and the answers eventually found him. 

And soon enough the prey became predator. He hunted the creatures and killed them for his survival. He he had an ability now but that didn't keep him from moving. He wandered all the way out of Virginia to other states. He just kept going and going and going. 

He's now thirty-three. It's been so long since he's seen, felt, or heard another human. The Expanse has become his reality. He knows nothing else except for survival.

(-)

He doesn't allow himself to feel hope when he sees the glimmer of light at the base of a tree in the woods. Though, he does allow it to peak his curiosity. He hadn't exactly seen anything like it before. It was odd the way it moved and he didn't quite have all the words to describe it. 

It wasn't the best idea, he knew that much, but he still stuck a gloved hand through it. The first word that came to mind was gooey and it felt a lot like sticking your hand in a pumpkin to clean it out before you carve it. 

He could hear something too. He wasn't sure if he was delusional or if he actually heard birds. It couldn't be. He had to be imagining it. After all this time he finally had to be going crazy.

Living life on the edge made him too adventures, he decided as he plunged his arm in further followed by his head and the rest of his body.

And on the other side? 

He was now sure he had in fact heard birds. After all this time... he was home

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly thought this would end up being longer but I guess not??? Also his name is never said whoops oh well. 
> 
> I have a different au entirely with Donnie Darko and Stranger Things where Donnie is like one of the kids or whatever but this au is more interesting. If you want to know more you can check out www.quotev.com/UPSlDEDOWN   
It's an rp account and you can see some of the stuff I've come up with for the au as well as its development and all my ramblings.
> 
> If this has enough people interested I may build on this. Who knows.


End file.
